Consequences
by One day I'll be a dinosaur
Summary: The consequences changed future Chris has to deal with
1. Chapter 1

When he had originally been born they had named him Leo Jr. When he travelled back in time he gave them the name Chris. The future consequences of them finding out who he was were too dire to risk giving them his real name. When they did find out he was too busy to correct them.

When he was born the second time they named him Chris Perry.

When he was finalising the plan for going back in time he decided that he needed to ensure that he would remember. What if he made everything worse? And in some sense it was penance, he hadn't been able to save the world, he should remember his failure. The personal gain element to his spell meant that with his birth and death he would regain those memories. As they happened.

He lived two lives. As a baby and into his early years he was so confused. In one life he had a father and a mother and he was called Chris. In another he was called Junior and only had a mother. The extra information and simulation meant that he was a quiet baby who didn't always react to what was happening and slept a lot.

Chris was three years old when he sorted his experience into something he could handle. Where he was Junior was a pretend world. Chris was the real one because Chris saw Junior but Junior didn't see him. Having classified his memories and finding a way to deal with them, knowing now what to really concentrate on meant that Chris began to interact with the world better.

Piper and Leo were relived. They knew Chris was going to grow up fine but his late development and the way he daydreamed had worried them. As harsh as it sounded they didn't have time for a child that wasn't on the ball. They needed their children to grow up quick. To learn to look after themselves, or they would die. Demons would attack the children and they wouldn't wait until someone was around to protect them.

Because Chris seemed slow his parents thought it better he spent more time with Victor. Where he would be safe and someone had the time to concentrate on his needs.

This was so different to what Chris was seeing in the pretend world. Where he sat and read with his mother and his brother showed him how to orb the toys they wanted. Because of the differences Chris had difficulties. He wouldn't respond when spoken to, he would forget he hadn't eaten, he would claim to be tired after a long nap. He would seem surprised to find himself at his grandfather's house and would sometimes just sit or stand still staring off into space.

It was a vicious circle. Chris wasn't alert and aware so for his safety he spent the day with his grandfather, which was so different to the pretend world so his attention was spilt, with meant he seemed out of it, which meant more time with his grandfather.

It was when he started school that things started to click. His mother had dropped him off in both worlds, it was the same building, his class was exactly the same, the same things were said and done, everything was the same. This sameness meant he could relax. He was living only one life at school and he loved it. School immediately became his favourite place.

He learnt everything quickly, he was doing it twice so it was easy. He soon raced ahead of the pretend world but there still a sense of cohesion at school that he didn't notice the subtle differences.

School helped him to learn to focus on the real world. The pretend world was still there, he was living that day too, but he learnt to push it to the side to pay better attention to the people who called him Chris.

But it wasn't just the consequences of the memories that changed Chris' life it was what his family knew.

They knew that Wyatt could have been a great evil. And while they stopped a big threat to him there was always something in the back of their minds. They paid more attention to Wyatt than they ever had before.

They watched him and when he did something wrong they explained to him why it was wrong. They took a greater interest in his life. Listening to all he had to say, questioning him. They trained him in his powers carefully and with gentle encouragement. They focused on him ensuring that he had a life outside of magic too and supporting him in that much as they could.

They weren't bad parents in the first time-line but this time they were super-parents. And while they didn't ignore their other children there just wasn't as much time for them. Phoebe and Paige's children all started banding together, they didn't feel unloved but they still had each other to rely on. Being a boy and away at their grandfather's a lot meant that Chris was excluded from their group.

The worse consequences came from knowing that the man that came from the future was their son and nephew. In the end they may have loved Chris but they didn't like him. He had been broken by a war but he never let them see that. All they saw were the coping mechanisms, behaviour that kept him alive was viewed as bad in the safe world his young family lived in. They never understood, or really tried to, what it was that Chris had been through, why it was that he had survived.

They thought they knew him, they expected him to marry Bianca and become demon obsessed. When he developed an interest in space and astronomy they didn't foster it, they thought they knew it was only a phase. In the pretend world Chris got a telescope for his tenth birthday and a trip to the science museum. In the real world Chris got generic boy toys and a small party in the garden.

While he had a father in the real world, in the pretend world there was a man that would take Wyatt out to see baseball games and would just stare at him unsure, the pretend world seemed so much better.

As Chris grew the centre of his life drifted away from the Halliwell home. His teachers became the encouraging force that drove him to do well. He learnt judo and tai chi at the YMCA instead of karate from his aunt Phoebe.

He never spend lazy Sunday afternoons being taught cooking and potions by his mother he spent them on his grandfather's couch eyes closed tight focusing solely on the pretend world.

But the pretend world changed suddenly. His mother died, driven to suicide to protect her sons when she was processed. The demon had Junior, taunting him with his mother's voice using her to beat him. He called for his father, Wyatt had been knocked out while Paige and Phoebe were dealing with a crisis demon Piper had caused, but the Elder never came. It was just him and the demon. Piper regained control of her body but only enough to stab herself in the thigh to stop the horrors she was seeing and couldn't stop. She bled out quickly, the demon causing her to laugh and scorn Junior as she died.

Leo had sensed the loss of Piper and had orbed in. Healed Wyatt but not Junior, Leo was grieving he blamed his youngest son for not protecting Wyatt or Piper and for not getting help.

Everyone knew there would be deep emotional wounds from the hours of physical and mental torture given by demon Piper before her death, and then watching her kill herself, but the grief of losing another sister, and a wife meant the adults forgot about the young boy who sat quietly.

Wyatt raged, this they could deal with, they knew what he was thinking and they saw how he was self destructing, Wyatt began to take up their time.

He wasn't sneaky, in fact the death of his mother showed him how little time he really had. He wanted to take control, to never hurt again. So he gained an army and fashioned the world into what he wanted. His family too stunned to fight against him, unwilling to harm Piper's son.

Junior was forgotten, he was forgotten until he lead the first battle against Wyatt's new regime, leading mortals, demons, warlocks, witches, fairies, ogres, and all other manner of creatures magical and non.

Living a quite life while watching a war turn into a genocide, watching family kill family, was hard on Chris and he retreated further and further from the Halliwells.

It wasn't until in the pretend world he started forming a plan of time travel, he may defeat Wyatt one day but billions of people would still have died and suffered, the human race would never had recovered from Wyatt's reign, that Chris finally understood.


	2. Chapter 2

So the pretend world wasn't just a make believe land that Chris had dreamed up but something that happened. Chris had studied enough magic to guess that some spell had had unforeseen consequences that resulted in a mess.

He was eighteen when the plan for time travel was formed. Junior was trying to save people, battling a great evil, Chris had his own battles to fight and like Junior he knew his grandfather would be on his side.

Chris wanted to go to college to study theoretical physics, Caltech, MIT, Stanford, and Columbia had all offered him academic scholarships, Chicago University had offered him a scholarship based on his magic achievements, he had been surprised that Chicago was affiliated with the magical community and was incredibly honoured to be offered the scholarship.

His mother would, understandably want him near by, where she could keep an eye on him, protect him. Chris enjoyed the irony of this, all his life he had sent him away to keep him safe and now when he wanted to leave she tried to keep him close.

Victor was incredibly proud of Chris, he had worked hard at school and deserved the recognition his scholarships gave. He wanted to see his grandson succeed and be happy and was ready to fight for Chris. They formed a plan of action.

Piper was hosting a family dinner, Phoebe, Coop and their two daughters, Paige, Henry and their daughter. Wyatt, Leo, Chris and Victor were also in attendance.

It was as cherry pie was being served that there was a lull in the conversation, nodding at his grandfather Chris began to speak, "I've got five scholarship offers, I haven't decided which one to take, yet." Piper looked at him, she was proud, five scholarships, how had she never noticed her boy was a genius. Various congratulations were given and Piper waited until they were finished to causally comment "it's such a shame you'll turn them all down but we're so proud of you for getting that."

"Why?" Chris tried to not to go straight to angry but it was close.

"Why what honey?"

"Why will I be turning down five instead of four?"

Piper sighed Chris hadn't been around demons as much as the other children had he didn't understand the danger he would be putting himself into. Chris broke into her thoughts "don't you dare say it's so I can stay here protected, you kept leaving me with Gramps. How is my being on my own any different from being in the care of a mortal." He stopped, something big was happening, a major battle, a major unpredicted battle, how had Wyatt stopped premonitions of this?

Chris stopped speaking his attention gone, he started shaking his head, he was having on of his fits and by the looks of it it would end in a headache and him locking himself away in his room. Piper needed Chris to know, to see she wasn't being unreasonable. "Chris, this exactly why you can't go, what if you were cooking when you had an attack, there would be a fire and you'd never know. Chris sweetheart, I'm looking out for you, you probably aren't even listening to what I'm saying."

It was only rarely that Chris has two such pivotal moments, clawing for his attention, happening at the same time, with a deep breath he looked his mother in the eye, he had to show her, oh god Wyatt's warlocks were reanimating the dead.

"Mom, when I applied I registered myself as disabled, where-ever I go they'll know and they'll be able to take care of me". The family looked uncomfortable, Chris' condition was an open secret that was never discussed, Paige had always wanted to take Chris to a doctor, get him a diagnosis and some medication. For all they knew Future Chris had the same condition but it had been treated. Paige was proud of Chris for taking charge, his acceptance of what his family seemed embarrassed about, to want to hide away, showed that Chris was an adult and she was going to support him and help him go away to college.

Chris continued, "if you're really worried about demons, I'll go to Chicago, they have a magic faultily. I'll be safe there. Mom, you've got to let me live my own life. I don't want to run your nightclub business with Wyatt, who by the way doesn't either."

Having his desires aired out to the family was strange for Chris and cathartic. He had always felt pushed aside. He was going to fight for college; and six months later Chris, with his family's blessing, left for Stanford. At twenty he went to MIT to do his PHD.


	3. Chapter 3

An interesting consequence of time travel is seeing your young family. Seeing your elder brother as an only child, seeing women who you only ever remembered as being married talking about dates and sex and just generally being young. It was good to see that they grew up to, that they had made mistakes and had fun.

Junior had all kinds of conflicting emotions, he was ecstatic to see them alive, he didn't want to be friends with them he wanted to get on with saving the world, he wanted them to trust him and yet was proud that they didn't. But he was still a young man who had brutally lost his mother and had never dealt with it. Seeing Piper hurt him.

Chris stayed away from the manor as much as possible that year, their treatment of him re-enforced his idea that his family might love him but they did not like him. They sent him away or blamed him or never even wanted him born.

But Chris deepened his relationship with Wyatt. They weren't estranged but they weren't close. When they were younger Wyatt didn't know how to play with his quite brother, he didn't want to hurt him, it didn't help that Chris was often taken away. As he grew older and gained his own friends Wyatt didn't want to be uncool and hang out with his little brother. It was when Chris let their mother know that Wyatt didn't want to run the P3 nightclub chain that he stopped to think.

His brother knew him and looked out for him, he never bothered him, and then when they went demon fighting they worked well together. Wyatt saw the way Chris flourished in Stanford and MIT, Chris had become a person Wyatt wanted to be friends with. So they began to hang out. Chris couldn't be happier, he knew what a fantastic relationship he and Wyatt could have had, he lived through it and missed both when Wyatt went evil and the second time round.

Chris had forgotten his birthday was coming up, Junior had the date etched on his mind but never really thought of it as meaning anything but as a deadline for Wyatt. Chris was busy publishing, he had just been awarded his PHD and was sorting out doing a postdoc at Tokyo University.

He had had phone calls all day but something major was happening in the past. He only went through the motions, concentrating on the past, and then he got stabbed. Junior and Chris had both been hurt and mortally wounded before, but this wouldn't heal, he had to rely on his dad an he was alone. And he was slipping and it hurt. Then he was gone.

Chris had always wondered what would happen, obviously Junior succeeded, had he lived on in the past, but the why wasn't he around? Would they merge into one? Chris had many theories and ideas but this wasn't one of them. Junior was gone. Chris wasn't sure if the world was so much louder or so much quieter.

He was disorientated, he had a brief moment when he was both dying and being born. Chris felt both awake and asleep. Suddenly there was only one world. It was so much brighter than he remembered and so dull.

Wyatt orbed in. Mom had organised a party and Chris was coming and Wyatt was getting him. Chris just went along, his sense of loss wrapping him up and holding him tight.

It was half was through the party when the anger built up. They had known he died, and they never said a thing. He was their son and when he was born they pushed him aside, he had done his job and they didn't want him any more. How dare they laugh and celebrate. He was dead, he was gone why was no one mourning with him. Why couldn't Junior, why couldn't Chris, be remembered and loved?

Chris turned off the music and marched up to his mother. She looked at her son his eyes blazing and she was back twenty-four years ago. Chris was still Chris, the son that wasn't hers, the son she hated and loved, the son she never wanted to grow to be, a hurt and lost child. Instead she had a bright young boy, one she never got to spend enough time with, he wasn't magically powerful and they weren't as close as she would have liked but he was all hers.

"I'd like to hold a minutes silence, for him." Most were confused but those who were there were shocked. Chris knew and he seemed okay. Paige went forward and held Chris' hand "I would really like that." Leo nodded tears in his eyes. But this made Chris even angrier, now they were sad, what about the rest of his life. For over twenty years they had ignored and forgotten him. The minute up Chris orbed out he couldn't deal with his family right now. He orbed to the underworld, demon killing is a incredibly soothing and relaxing hobby.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been three months since Chris' birthday and two since his move to Japan with another four months left there, he also had various tenure positions offered to him. Wyatt had visited every fortnight or so the two growing ever closer. But he was only one in the family that Chris was in contact with and Wyatt had had enough he wanted his family happy and whole.

So Wyatt informed his mom that Chris would be at the General Library, Hongo Campus at mid-day Japanese time. He orbed her over and then went to spend time at Akihabara playing with all the cool electronics. It was half an hour later when he heard her calling for him. Seeing her in a state of distress he took her home and then went to find Chris to knock some sense into him. Unable to find him Wyatt again orbed home to speak to his mother, he found her franticly searching through the book.

"Mom, what happened?"

"Wyatt scry for your brother." Wyatt did as he was told. When he came up blank his mother just stopped and started speaking. "That wasn't your brother, the things and the stories he had to tell. I would know, I would have recognised it. Wyatt a demon was impersonating your brother, I killed it but I can't find Chris. It was a demon, it had to have been. It was just a trick a cruel trick"

"Mom." Wyatt shouted and grabbed her by the shoulders, "tell me what happened," he asked gently moving her over to the old couch.

"I saw Chris and he looked so impassive. He took me a coffee place and we talked. He told me how he grew up knowing, and what he claimed to know, he couldn't have. It never happened, how could he have known that. He told me how much it hurt it to be pushed aside. But Wyatt, no, I would have known if he was in that much pain. So I tested him and asked him questions, he told me lies about Junior and telescopes and suicide. Lies! All of them. So I knew he was a demon and so I took him to a back alley and I blew him up, but it was blue, he blew up in orbs. But it that was just a demon trick. We have to find him Wyatt, we have to."

He was hugging her now afraid to tell her what Chris had shared with him, how when he sensed it felt different from when Chris was blocked or in the underworld. He just sat there holding her.


End file.
